Dispatches from Route 66: What I found at the end of the Mother Road

Walking down Santa Monica Boulevard, I pass a man sitting on the fence of a crowded gay bar, a hot pink thong peeking out from his shorts as go-go dancers in Speedos dance for tips inside. To my left, a sign fastened to a light pole reads “Route 66,” surrounded by a burst of rainbow colors. A man jumps into another man’s arms and wraps his legs around the other man's waist. After an intense but brief make-out session, he says to his friends, “What?! We’re just giving them what they want.”Standing on the final stretch of Route 66, it would be easy to assume queer travelers had always found belonging at the end of the Mother Road’s rainbow. Was this the queer utopia that had drawn LGBTQ+ road-trippers and opportunity seekers west along Route 66?California without the coastRelated: Dispatches from Route 66: Discover the queer stories hidden along the iconic road trip Oatman, ArizonaAlysse Dalessandro for The AdvocateFlying into Los Angeles might leave visitors believing all of California looks like the city. Driving into the state along Route 66 tells a different story. After a brief pit stop in Oatman, Arizona, where I dodged donkey dung and Trump supporters, I crossed the border into Needles. I might have missed the sign announcing my arrival in California had I blinked. The temperature climbed to 120 degrees. There was no ocean breeze like the one I’d come to expect in California. I was very much still in the desert. I arrived at the Needles Regional Museum shortly before its 2 p.m. closing.The museum showcased china and menus from the El Garces Harvey House, one of the last remaining structures that once housed a Fred Harvey restaurant and hotel along the Santa Fe Railway. Though Harvey Houses served rail passengers, Route 66 often paralleled the railroad through the Southwest, creating a natural overlap between the two.As I read about the Harvey House, I found myself wondering whether other LGBTQ+ travelers had passed through places like this durin